Apple iOS remains No 1 choice for smartphone buyers

Apple iOS remains the No 1 preference for buyers, a ChangeWave survey claims, with 46pc of consumers surveyed planning to buy an iOS-based device in the next 90 days. This is good news for Apple, which is expected to release its iPhone 5 in September.

Firmly in second place in the North American market, the Android OS (32pc) has registered a slight uptick (up 1-pt) in terms of future buyer preference.

Around 4,100 people were surveyed, 89pc of them in the US and 11pc elsewhere.

In contrast, Research in Motion’s BlackBerry OS (4pc; down 1-pt) has once again hit its lowest level ever in a ChangeWave survey.

Despite no new Apple model launch, demand still appears strongest for the iPhone in terms of North American planned purchasing.

Nearly half of respondents (48pc) planning on buying a smartphone in the next 90 days say they’ll get an iPhone – up 1-pt since a previous survey in March and the highest level of demand in the smartphone industry.

The same can’t be said for Motorola (8pc; down 4-pts). After benefitting tremendously in the years Verizon subscribers were barred from the iPhone market, Motorola is now seeing a loss of market share at least partially attributable to the Verizon iPhone release that occurred earlier this year.

Still, Motorola’s situation is considerably less daunting than that of Research in Motion’s.

In seven of the past 10 ChangeWave quarterly surveys since 2008, we have seen a drop in RIM’s planned purchase share. Its customer satisfaction ratings have also fallen in nine of the past 10 ChangeWave surveys – the latest survey shows RIM at its lowest level ever for this most critical of indicators.